Naming an openHAB instance in an .items file

I would like to name an individual openHAB instance in an .items file to be able to discriminate multiple such instances and to administer them remotely. That means to send out the entire configuration, logs, and to write configuration back - manually or by cron. The scenario could be industrial control applications across multiple sites.

Currently I misuse the http plugin and an “echo” mechanism to do something like this - openhab.items:

String	Config_ID	"ID [%s]"	(Config)	{ http="<[http://www.mysite.com/echo/?text=openHAB001:300000:REGEX()]" }
String	Config_Version	"version [%s]"	(Config) { http="<[http://www.mysite.com/echo/?text=20170203:300000:REGEX()]" }
String	Config_Path	"path [%s]"	(Config) { http="<[http://www.mysite.com/echo/?text=%%2Fopt%%2Fopenhab-1.8.3-runtime:300000:REGEX()]" } // escaping for URL and java.util.Formatter
Switch	Config_Toggle_Send_Config	"Konfiguration senden"	(Config)
Switch	Config_Toggle_Send_Logs	"Logs senden"	(Config)
Switch	Config_Toggle_Get	"Konfiguration empfangen"	(Config)

mysite.com/echo/index.php:

<?php echo urldecode($_GET['text']) ?>

openhab.sitemap:

		Text label="Konfiguration und Support" icon="icon-tools-0032" {
			Frame label="Konfiguration und Support" {
				Text	item=Config_ID
				Text	item=Config_Version
				Text	item=Config_Path
				Switch	item=Config_Toggle_Send_Config	icon="icon-box-out-0032"	label="Konfiguration an Betreiber senden (auslesen)"
				Switch	item=Config_Toggle_Send_Logs	icon="icon-box-out-0032"	label="Logs an Betreiber senden (auslesen)"
				Switch	item=Config_Toggle_Get	icon="icon-box-in-0032"	label="Konfiguration von Betreiber holen (überschreiben)"
			}
		}

openhab.rules:

rule "Send config"
when Item Config_Toggle_Send_Config changed from OFF to ON
then
	sendMail(mailTo, "openHAB: send_config " + Config_ID.state, "N/A", "file://" + Config_Path.state + "/configurations/sitemaps/hausgart.sitemap")
	// TODO: include others (*.rules, .items) and zip up before sending
	sendCommand(Config_Toggle_Send_Config, OFF)
end

rule "Send logs"
when Item Config_Toggle_Send_Logs changed from OFF to ON
then
	sendMail(mailTo, "openHAB: send_logs " + Config_ID.state, "N/A", "file://" + Config_Path.state + "/logs/openhab.log")
	// TODO: and other logs
	sendCommand(Config_Toggle_Send_Logs, OFF)
end

rule "Get config"
when Item Config_Toggle_Get changed from OFF to ON
then
	/* via http GET: backup, fetch, unzip, overwrite config files */
	sendCommand(Config_Toggle_Get, OFF)
end

This works, but is there a simpler way of doing this - namely in regards to the http plugin?
That would need to be a dumb echo plugin or the ability to specify a string literal.

Or is there an other way of doing this, like read in a .properties file?